Figurative Language and Poetry Terms

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

EX: While I nodded, nearly, napping, suddenly there came a tapping.

Alliteration

The repetition of vowel sounds within words. EX: On the morrow he will leave me, as my

hopes have flown before.

Assonance

Similar or identical sounds at the end of two lines of poetry.

EX: Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

End Rhyme

Rhyme within a line of poetry EX: Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic

terrors never felt before.

Internal Rhyme

Words repeated within a line of poetry. EX: From my books surcease of sorrow—

sorrow for the lost Lenore.

Repetition

The way words are arranged in lines, the way lines are arranged in stanzas, and the way units of sound are organized in rhythm and rhyme.

Two kinds of form: Fixed and Irregular.

Form

Follows fixed (unchanging) rules. ◦ Limited number of lines◦ Fixed meter◦ Fixed rhyme scheme◦ Definite structure

Examples: Sonnet, ballad, epic, elegy, ode, blank verse

Fixed Form

No rules- takes whatever shape it wants.

Irregular form or free verse

The same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines.

EX: Or I guess the grass is itself a child Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic

Anaphora